What is here supposed is, however, a historical fact. The human organism which stood in the river Jordan at John’s baptism when the ego of Jesus of Nazareth left the three bodies, contained, after the baptism, in complete conscious development, that higher Self of humanity which usually works with cosmic wisdom on a child without its knowledge. At the same time, the necessity arose that this Self which was in connection with the higher spirit-world could only live for three years in the appropriate human organism. Events had then to take place which brought the earthly life of that being to a close. The outer events in the life of Christ Jesus are to be interpreted as absolutely conditioned by the inner causes just set forth, and present themselves as the outward expression of those causes. We are now able to see the deeper connection existing between that which is man’s guide in life, which streams in upon our childhood like the dawn and is always working below the surface of our consciousness as the best part of us, and that which once upon a time entered the whole of human evolution and was able to dwell for three years in a human frame. What then is manifested in that “higher” ego, which is in connection with the spiritual hierarchies, and which in due time entered the body of Jesus of Nazareth? This entrance being symbolically represented by the sign of the Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and by the words, “This is my well-beloved Son, to-day have I begotten him” (for so stood the words originally). If we fix our eyes upon this picture, we are contemplating the highest human ideal. For it means nothing else than that the history of Jesus of Nazareth is a statement of this fact: “The Christ can be discerned in every human being.” And even if there were no Gospels and no tradition, to tell us that once a Christ lived on earth, we should yet learn through knowledge of human nature that the Christ is living in man.